Reel for eyeglasses



c. s. SWIFT. REEL FOR EYEGLASSES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-23, I916- Patented July 8, 1919.

ma mLuMBxA PLANOGRAPH cm. WASHINGTON. m c- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

CHARLES S. SwrET, or SoM EvrLLE, MAssAcHUsETTS, ASSIGNOR ooAEL G. ALDRICH,

' 'OF SOMERVILDE, MASSACHUSETTS.

EEEL on EYEGLASSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1919.

Application filed'llugust 23, 1916. Serial No. 116,529.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. SWIFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reels for Eyeglasses, of which the following is'a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved eyeglass reel and particularly to simplify the construction and reduce the cost of manufacturing reels of this kind.

Reels of the kind referred to have'heretofore been constructed with a housing. adapted to be fastened to the wearing apparel of the user and within this housing is a flanged pulley rotatably supported upon a post and having attached thereto one end of a cord or chain that extends through an opening in the housing to the exterior of the latter so that its outer end may be attached to the eyeglasses. The ulley is constructed with means for clutching the post to hold the pulley in its different positions and this means may consist of one or more clutch balls occupying one or more peculiarly shaped pockets formed in a separate piece disk carried by the pulley, the ball or balls being held within the pockets by another separate part in the shape of a retainer ring or disk also carried by the pulley.

My present invention resides in the construction hereinafter described and claimed whereby the use of the ball carrying disk formed with the pockets and of the retainer ring or disk is dispensed with thereby greatly simplifying the construction; and ,materially reducing the number of parts as well as the labor involved in making and assembling and the cost of material.

Another feature of my invention resides in the simple and effective connection hereinafter described between the end of the cord or chain and the pulley.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in section of an eyeglass reel constructed in accordance with my invention. 1

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the reel shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the pulley.

Fig. 4 is a Section on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail hereinafter described.

The housing of my improved reel is herein shown as comprising a front section 1 and back'section 2 constructed and connected as usual, the back section 2having mounted thereon the usual pin 3 by means of which the reel is attached to its support, and the usual post 4 on which the pulley 5 is rota-tably'mounted. Post 4 is formed with longitudinal peripheral grooves 6t0 cooperate with two balls 7 carried by and confined within the pulley. That is, the pulley .5 is made with two interior chambers or pockets 8 which hold the balls, the latter being carried directly by the pulley and maintained in cooperative relation therewith by the pulley itself alone, and said pulley being made with pockets 8 whose walls are integral parts of thepulley so that all strains due to the clutching action ofthe balls are borne directly by the pulley itself instead of by a separate piece ball carrying disk frictionally connected therewith.

The pulley 5 is made from two flanged drums 9 and 10, the drum 9 having an inturned flange 11 formed with two slots 12 and the drum 10 having inturned flange 13 formed with two tangs 14. In assembling.

theparts'of the pulley the two flanges 11 and 18 are placed together with the tangs 14 extending through the slots 12 and then said tangs are bent down as shown thus securely fastening the two drums-together end to end so that their inturned flangesmake up the web of the pulley.

The two drums 9 and 18 is the usual spring the inner end of which is fastened to post 4 and the outer end to the pulley in the usual fashion (not shown). The usual cord or chain 19 has one end thereof fastened to pulley 5 and extends from said'pulley through. an opening 20 in. housing section 9 to the exterior of the latter, the outer end of said cord or chain be- 10 are made of. pressed sheet metal with central'openings to ing fastened to the eyeglasses. The spring 18 tends to rotate the pulley 5 in a direction opposite to the arrow in Fig. 1 but is nor mally prevented from doing so by the uppermost ball 7 which occupies one of the grooves 6 of post 4 and the recess 17 of its pocket 8.

lVhen it is desired to shorten the length of that part of the cord 19 that is outside of the housing, said cord is jerked outwardly and the strain thereon quickly relaxed. The outward erk on the cord rotates the pulley 5 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. l and causes the radial wall 16 of the pocket of the uppermost ball to move the latter out of the groove (3 after which centrifugal force due to movement of said ball with the pulley throws said ball to the outer end of its pocket, the opposite ball 7 being held at the outer end of its pocket by centrifugal force also. lVhen the strain on the cord is quickly relaxed the spring 18 immediately rotates pulley 5 in the opposite direction, centrifugal force still holding both balls at the outer ends of their pockets and the pulley 5 continuing to rotate under the influence of the spring until the slack in cord 19 is taken up. When the slack in the cord is thus taken up the person manipulating said cord permits the spring to slowly rotate the pulley and the first ball 7 to pass over post 4 will fall by gravity onto the latter and enter one of the two uppermost grooves 6 so that as soon as the wall of the recess 17 of its pocket engages said ball the pulley will be stopped and held against further rotation by the spring.

The construction described above allows of making the pulley from two pieces of pressed sheet metal and provides such a sheet metal pulley with a substantial hub having a comparatively large bearing surface to engage the post. It also reduces the number of parts required to produce the pulley and provides a lighter, stronger and more durable construction.

The cylindrical wall of the drum 9 is made with a U-shaped slit 21 which provides a tongue 22 and an opening 23. The inner end of the cord 19 which is provided with an enlargement, knot or head 24 is passed from the exterior of the pulley, through opening 23 and then the tongue 22 is bent down onto the cord behind head 24 thereby securely fastening the cord to the pulley. When a chain is used instead of a cord the end thereof is likewise passed through opening 23 after which the tongue 22 is bent down into position behind the last link, said last link serving the same purpose as the head or enlargement 24.

What I claim is 1. In an eyeglass reel, the combination of a housing provided upon its interior with a post; a pulley mounted on said post made with a ball holding pocket adjacent said post and a ball Within said pocket, the walls of said pocket being integral parts of said pulley and serving to retain the ball in position as well as to cause it to cooperate with said post.

2. In an eyeglass reel the combination of a housing provided upon its interior with a post; a pulley mounted on said post made from sheet metal pressed into shape with a ball holding pocket adjacent said post, and a. ball in said pocket, the 'walls of said pocket being integral parts of said pulley and serving to retain the ball in position as well as to cause it to cooperate with said post.

3. In an eyeglass reel the combination of a housing provided upon its interior with a post; a pulley mounted on said post made from sheet metal pressed into shape with hub flange and a ball holding pocket adjacent said post, and a ball in said pocket, the walls of said pocket being integral parts of said pulley and serving to retain the ball in position as well as to cause it to cooperate with said post.

4. A pulley for eyeglass reels consisting of two abutting drums made from pressed sheet metal and provided at their abutting ends with inwardly projecting annular flanges the flange of one of said drums being formed with a ball holding pocket one side of which is closed by the flange of the other drum, and means fastening the two flanges together. a

5. A pulley for eyeglass reels consisting of two abutting drums made from pressed sheet metal and provided at their abutting ends with integral inwardly projecting annular flanges constituting the web of the pulley, the flange of one of said drums being formed with a ball holding pocket and with a hub flange, and the flange of the other drum serving to close one side of said pocket,

and means fastening the two flanges together.

6. In an eyeglass reel, the combination of a housing provided upon its interior with a post; a pulley mounted upon said post having the web thereof made with a ball holding pocket whereof the Walls are integral parts of said web, and a ball mounted in said pocket.

In testimony whereof I have aiiiXed my signature.

CHARLES s. SWIFT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

